The most recommended books about companies and corporations

This book tackles the phenomenon of socially responsible corporations, ESG (Environmental and Social Governance), and business sustainability efforts.

Bakan argues that while corporate messaging has changed, global capitalism continues to be built on the destruction of the natural world, exploitation of workers, inequality, and pollution.  

What does environmental racism look like? Read How Beautiful We Were by Imobolo Mbue for a vital, searing answer. An American oil company is destroying the land and water of the fictional village of Kosawa. Children are dying. The company does this because they can, spouting only empty words about restitution. The novel narrates the village’s fight back, using alternating points of view to electric, pulsing effect.

The framework presented in Corporate Lifecycles deals with the same core issue of Stages and Challenges of Organizational Growth as dealt with in my own book, but from a different perspective. The author is a former academic who has developed his own framework of corporate lifecycles and his methodology of organizations working through them. The book presents a different framework of corporate life cycles and emphasizes the managerial styles that are appropriate to reach stage of the corporate lifecycle. The author has seen and worked with a large number of companies that have employed his methods. He presents his perspective and insights for this role as a participant-observer. 

Warren Buffet, the famous investor, is also revered as a master communicator. His annual Letters to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders are models of clear, transparent writing. They are the best showcases I know for the impact of presenting difficult material in “plain English.” Buffet makes financial information accessible and even interesting to the layperson with an unassuming colloquial tone, humor, anecdotes, and language based on the concrete short words of natural speech. He always delivers substance, even acknowledging his own poor decisions.

The enviable result: he generates trust, the critical ingredient of persuasion. I love introducing students to Buffet’s writing and seeing them analyze what works so well. The letters are available online, but this book usefully collects them along with other Buffet writings and commentary.

We like this book because it has a “reader-friendly” style, which is particularly important for anyone unfamiliar with the subject. This also makes it practical for students of all levels and those interested in exploring a new area of interest.

The main topics of corporate finance are covered, giving detailed explanations of key principles while considering real-life situations by utilising practical examples to illustrate the issues explored. It provides an effective bridge between theory and practical application of techniques used by professional managers to achieve corporate objectives. The inclusion of questions for review and discussion allows the reader to self-test and reflect on their understanding and encourage critical thinking.

Our advice, brew a big mug of tea and make a start.

Many people know that American democracy and capitalism have been on a downward spiral for decades. The system is rigged, former Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich sounds the alarm throughout his excellent book The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It. He goes deep into these questions as he supports the provocative thesis that despite acrimonious partisan polarization, the real contest is not between the right and left but between democracy and oligarchy; and that the vast majority of citizens (Republicans, Democrats, and Independents) are getting poorer and wield “near-zero” political power. Oligarchs—JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is their embodiment—have amassed enormous sums of capital and political power, which allows them to further rig the system through campaign contributions, successful lobbying, and even criminal actions for which, if caught, they only pay nominal fines.

This elegantly written book is chock-a-block with real-life examples and balances rigorous conceptual discussion with practical tips for moving organizations from mediocrity to excellence.

I especially like the author's distillation of eight practical tips that separate successful companies from the wannabes, including a bias for action, staying close to the customer, and “sticking to the knitting.” These were ahas! at the time and have since become timeless “musts” for well-run companies.

Stout’s book was an early salvo in the current debate about shareholder primacy that opened the way for many who have followed in her footsteps. In this carefully argued book, she disputes the argument that corporate boards are required by law to put the shareholder first, pointing out flaws in legal interpretations that have supported a damaging consensus view. In debunking the shareholder value myth, she shows that the obsessive focus on financial returns has led to dangerous short-termism in which corporate leaders pursue quarterly earnings to the disadvantage of investments that would not only improve social outcomes but also lead to better long term performance. She also demonstrates that shareholders hold many values, only one of which might be financial returns. In this regard, she was a vanguard of the accelerating focus of institutional investors on “stewardship” of the environmental and social impacts of their investments.  

At this point in the reading list, hopefully, you’re feeling more grounded in your climate grief and energized to fight for what’s left of the natural world. A Spy in the Struggle is a fast-paced novel about activism at the intersection of racial and environmental justice. Yolanda Vance is a ruthless, capitalist FBI agent who infiltrates a Black activist group organizing against a biotech corporation that’s poisoning their neighborhood. 

By making the protagonist start off as an enemy of the climate movement, De León demonstrates the kinds of experiences and messaging that can win over new allies. This book also centers the Black communities that are doing some of the most critical organizing against environmental racism in the U.S. and reveals the interconnectedness between police brutality, racial capitalism, and the climate crisis. In most cities in the U.S., you’ll find communities of color organizing against environmental racism, and I hope… show more.

In the early 1990s, Decatur, Illinois was a “time-battered” town, in the words of indefatigable labor journalist Steve Franklin, where factories hunkered amid grungy bars, a forlorn old motel, and prison. Unions had largely capitulated to global capital, as wages and jobs were slashed across the industrial heartland and families suffered in silence. In Decatur workers made a last stand at three eponymous employers – Firestone, Staley, and Caterpillar. Franklin – at the Chicago Tribune, one of the last labor journalists nationwide -- brings us evocatively to the front lines of these three strikes, weaving accessible socioeconomic analysis through the landscape of a bittersweet Bruce Springsteen song.